1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed in general to graphical user interfaces, and more particularly to a graphical user interface for managing and administering hetereogenous Digital Library datastores.
2. Description of Related Art
A heterogeneous Digital Library datastore usually provides Library Server functions as well as Object Server functions, wherein these functions execute on one or more network server nodes. A Library Server typically supports a high-level content model, handles access control, manages transactions, and performs other functions. An Object Server, on the other hand, supports a large, scaleable repository of objects which are components of the high-level content model maintained by Library Server.
Often, a systems administrator may need to manage several heterogeneous Digital Library datastores. This task can be made easier using an Systems Administration program that interfaces to each of the heterogeneous Digital Library datastores. Moreover, this task can be made easier through use of a consistent user interface.
As a result, there is a need in the art of a System Administration program that easily interfaces to multiple heterogeneous digital libraries. In addition, there is a need in the art for a consistent user interface used across multiple heterogeneous digital libraries. Moreover, the architecture of such a System Administration program should be modular and extensible, so that additional types of datastores can be added without disrupting existing systems.
To overcome the problems discussed above, and to overcome other problems in the art, the present invention discloses a method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for an extensible, object-oriented graphical user interface (GUI) framework that provides a consistent xe2x80x9clook and feelxe2x80x9d for an application that interfaces to the GUI framework and that manages and administers a plurality of datastores. The GUI framework is extensible by means of a xe2x80x9cplug-inxe2x80x9d facility through which support for additional datastores can be added, so that a collection of heterogeneous datastores can be managed using one consistent user interface.